Delme Parfitt was at last season's first home game and went along again yesterday to sample the atmosphere with the new two-tier Ninian Stand

While a towering new extension to a stand gave the impression of a club on the up, there was no escaping reminders of Cardiff City's demise in status as their home Championship schedule kicked off against Huddersfield Town.

Almost precisely a year ago - and the time has passed at breakneck speed - Manchester City were the visitors to Leckwith.

The Bluebirds were expected to provide game, but inadequate opposition, before falling to the inevitable defeat against their star-studded visitors.

What unfolded was a sequence of events that made for arguably the most electric atmosphere at a Cardiff home game in history.

Malky Mackay's men stunned the side that would go on to be crowned champions, the sun shone, and the home fans mocked their Manchester counterparts with an ironic performance of the bobbing Poznan jig patented by the sky blue followers at a previous European game in the Polish city.

Cardiff City celebrate beating Man City

In short, there was never a day like it if you were a fan of the Bluebirds.

By contrast an opener against an outfit like Huddersfield was something to be endured rather than savoured, a box to be ticked on what is hopefully a road to relegation redemption.

On Tuesday evening, that new stand had hovered in glittering fashion over Real Madrid and Sevilla as a memorable Uefa Super Cup unfolded below, Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo et al.

This time it had a more echoey feel to it, or at least the top tier, ridiculously decked out in red seats, certainly did.

In the middle of that tier, and all around the rest of the ground, Cardiff fans once again showed that their stance on their team's Vincent Tan-enforced colour has, if anything, hardened.

Red, in most of their eyes, is dead. Blue is the colour. Emphatically.

So here was another reminder - Cardiff City Football Club is a club divided, and everything Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's men achieve this season will have to be in spite of that.

As usual, Bluebirds fans did their best to lift their team, but there prolonged quieter spells punctuated by the odd "We're Cardiff City, we'll always be blue" chants.

It's a worthy sentiment but it only served as yet another reminder, to the away side, that their opponents are confused about their identity.

None of it helps, the whole business is deeply counter-productive, but Tan will have his way.

As Cardiff fans were taking their seats yesterday, news was filtering through that Swansea City had beaten Manchester United.

Events at Old Trafford had occupied the centre of the football universe for two hours before kick-off, Louis van Gaal's first match in charge guaranteed to be the story, no matter what the outcome.

It was watched in the Cardiff City Stadium press room by a smattering of journalists compared to the throng that used to turn up last season.

In fact, there was so much chicken curry on offer, so many jugs of coffee to chose from, so many places to sit, that you half wondered whether unforeseen traffic problems had delayed the rest of the media corps.

Not at all. It was simply another reminder - that the interest in Championship football does not compare to the Premier League. That the Premier League really is the only place to be.

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